Talk:Bojana River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is no reason to give the river only its Serbian name. To be fair, it should even been described under the heading Buna/Bojana, since its upper half is entirely in Albania, and afterwards it forms the border between Montenegro and Albania. Kaewa Koyangi 01:05, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
Contents |
[edit] The Name
I agree with you. That's why I left Bojana/Buna dual form in the text (if you read the article at all). I was talking about Skadar/Shkodra, Ulcinj/Ulqin, etc. Because guys cleaning the articles will remove dual forms for subjects with links and separate articles anyway. Before posting the article I checked other Wikipedias, only two had the river (German and Hungarian) and both under the name of Bojana, so I named it that way too. PajaBG 01:35, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] If you insist on giving this river a single name it should be Albanian
In the case of the Buna/Bojana, the idea of giving it a single name is not the best option, for two reasons :
- The purpose of an encyclopedia is to provide accurate information, not deprive its readers of relevant knowledge because it regards them as incapable of understanding the obvious purpose of a double title.
- It should be admitted, in such cases where two names are equally in use, no clear-cut criterion is available, and anything else will cause resentment, that both should be used. Balkan specialists who want to avoid partiality and geographers with an understanding of local politics tend to choose such a solution. Why not follow their example?
Yet, acording to the criteria below, if a single name is nevertheless chosen, it should be Albanian.
Quoting from Wikipedia:WikiProject_Rivers:
[edit] Rivers with multiple names
Some rivers have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the rivers pass through. (An example would be the Cunene River in Angola, which is known as the Kunene River in Namibia. Occasionally, a river can have several genuinely distinct names. For example, the Cuando River not only has the variant spelling Kwando, it's also called the Linyanti and the Chobe. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a river:
- If the river is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.(Not the case.)
- If the section of the river that uses a particular name is much longer than other sections, then use that as the name.
- If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the section of the river closest to the river's mouth, since generally that is where the river is widest. (Everything else is definitely not equal.)
(ending quote)
If you consider only the Buna/Бојана-Bojana which flows from the Lake of Shkodra to the Adriatic, it would then be a little less than 3/4 Albanian, since its upper half is in Albania, its lower half forms the border between Albania and Montenegro, while the greater part of the delta is in Montenegro.
But in fact the Buna/Bojana is the lowest section of the Drin, which provides nine tenths of its flow, the longest part of which is also in Albania. The Drin would then follow the Cuando-Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe pattern by:
- first being called the Black Drin (from Lake Ohrid in Macedonia to Kukës in Albania) and the White Drin (from Peja/Пећ-Peć in Western Kosovo to Kukës in Albania),
- then the Drin from from Kukës to Shkodra in Albania),
- and then Buna/Бојана-Bojana, from Shkodra to the Adriatic.
(A smaller section of the Drin also flows from Vau i Dejës to Lezha on the Adriatic)
[edit] Why dual names for cities?
If one can understand why Bojana/Buna has the dual name, I certainly cannot understand why this applies for Shkodër and Ulcinj? Shkodër is entirely in Albania, and Ulcinj is in Montenegro...and this is English Wikipedia?
Also, Lake Skadar is the chosen and accepted name for the lake, both in common speach outside Albania, and on Wikipedia. I'm not sure that dual name is necessary in the case of the lake... Nije bitno... 20:38, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
I got rid of most of the dual names except for the dual formulation used for the river. Serbian names are used for cities in Montenegro and Albanian namaes for places in Albania. I also got rid of the double name for Lake Skadar as this is the lake's only name in English.--84.153.1.152 08:53, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] What is the point of complicating a name of a river?
I find the content on this page very controversial, therefore I have to further question a few simple facts. What is right or wrong?
1. Why does there have to be a right or wrong way? Albanians can call the river as described, by using the name known to their language, Buna. The Montenegrians and Serbs, and therefore rest of the slavic folks, can use the name Bojana. Frankly, I'm born in Bosnia where the name of the river Bojana has been known to me ever since. In addition, Bojana is a common Slavic first name; I wonder whether the first name has been derived from the river. 2. Does the name of the river denominate it's national ownership and therefore the expansion of countrie's borders? If this is true then common name can be infinately argued until finaly there is only the villain and the victim. Should the whole river be in Albania or should the whole river be in Montenegro? 3. Like the river, shouldn't the languages flow into each other. The river can be called Buna in Albania or the Albanian part and Bojana in Montenegro or the part that flowing through Montenegro. Take Danube, Donau, Dunav for example, it's name is changing from country to country. 4. Why should the single name be Albanian? If the single name needs to be choosen than it shouldn't be either or. Why not find a new name, a unifying name between the two languages. That way we make history not murder. 5. Question of beauty and ego? Since my mother language is slavic and I speak various Balkan dialects I have to be honest and say that the name Bojana is more beautiful of a word than Buna. Buna in slavic means a riot. I'm sorry, but I don't know what Buna means in Albanian. Therefore, we come to the question of ego. Our (human) psychology is to a great part built on how we see what surrounds us. The negative side of ego can disturb our doing of the right thing and changes it to do what is better for me thing. In this discussion, we have to be able to strip away our heritage and find what is true for that river. What does the river tell us? (Regards, Dan :-) )
[edit] More discussion
As this page was inappropriately copy-pasted to Buna/Bojana, when it later got reverted to its original title, the ongoing talk page remained as Talk:Buna/Bojana River so it should be checked too. PajaBG 12:34, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
